A New Life
by HeartAuror
Summary: Tsume hasn't even lived her first life when she gets hit by a speeding driver. Now she's determined to make the most out of her second life, but she certainly never expected to be reborn into Naruto! Self-insert. SI OC
1. Chapter 1

**So, obviously I've been caught up in the whole Self-Insert craze. This is my first fanfiction that I'm posting online, but I do hope you like it.  
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**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto**

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><p>Death came quickly for me. A speeding driver hit me as I was coming off the bus. I didn't even have time to think as it slammed into me and I was plunged into darkness. I don't know how long I was floating in the darkness. It felt like forever yet no time at all before I was torn into blinding light. The only thing I could do was scream and flail arms and legs that felt much too short. I continued to cry as I was wrapped up in something soft that inhibited my limbs, but exhaustion overcame me as I was swayed back and forth so I slept.<p>

It took me a while to come to terms with being a baby. However, when I finally did, I wanted to learn quickly. I loved to move in my old life and I was glad to see that hadn't changed. I spent a lot of my time sleeping, but my favorite time of day was when my dad would take me outside. I couldn't see the world more than a few inches in front of my face, but I loved the air all the same.

The language around me was strange and I did my best to understand it, but it was hard without the visual aspect to help me. As a result I always looked forward to when my dad would read to me. The stories, or more accurately the pictures, were strange to me. While I still couldn't understand the words or the writing that was in a foreign language compared to where I was before I did recognize that the pictures were decidedly violent for someone as young as I was.

My first few weeks of life went by peacefully, but I was in for a brutal awakening when I saw Mitarashi Anko in one of the many buildings we visited. I gaped at the purple haired kunoichi still wondering how I could be seeing someone from one of my favorite stories in my past life. I heard my dad's rough voice speaking to her as if it wasn't strange that a fictional character was here in real life. I was even more shocked as he passed me over to be held by her. When I thought of Anko I could only think about how violent she was so I was terrified at being held by this woman. Yet she was gentle and she cooed at me like every other woman I had met in this new world. For just a moment I thought maybe this was a woman who just looked like Anko until I was whipped around and watched as Anko kicked a man and sent him flying.

I was still coming to terms with my new reality when dad took me home that day. The strange language was Japanese and the violent children books were because we were in a violent world. I suddenly saw this new world in an entirely new light and I was excited to meet my past life's heroes.

I didn't have another shock until I was a couple months old and I first saw myself in a mirror. I was beginning to understand the world and I knew my name was Tsume. I had learned it meant moon, but it wasn't until I saw myself that I understood the name. I had pure white hair and golden eyes and I even reminded myself of the moon.

The next few months past peacefully. I learned that my father owned the second most famous restaurant in the village, the Dango shop. And I learned more quickly than I should have, but I still couldn't help but revel in the praise my father was giving me when I first learned to crawl, when I took my first steps, and when my first word was "ChiChi" (AN: ChiChi = Dad). My first birthday party was small, and Anko was there. I learned quickly that she and my father were friends.

A few weeks after my first birthday my dad me to the park and there I made _my _first friend. I never expected my first friend to be Ino, but I was excited the moment I saw her playing in the flowers. I ran the best I could, but it was still a waddle with my short legs. Before I reached her a picked a flower and held it out to her, "Friend." Was the first thing I said to her and I was delighted when she giggled at me and matched my flower with one of hers.

"Yes." She told me and I giggled with her. Even though my vocabulary was more extensive than hers I had the feeling she wasn't stupid and I enjoyed her company. I was disappointed when it was time to go home, but dad promised me that we would get to play again.

Ino and I were soon best friends. Both our dads got involved in our play-dates. We played hide-and-seek with them and everything, but it was undeniable that Ino and I enjoyed being in each other's company.

By the time we were two Ino and I enjoyed a much larger variety of games. We played dress-up and we made each other sloppy flower crowns. My favorite game was ninja, but I was aware my dad seemed to discourage it. It was then that I became very aware that even though my dad respected ninjas like the other civilians he also knew how dangerous it was. I felt bad making dad worry about me, but I was already planning on being a ninja like Ino.

I didn't voice this until I was six. "Tsume, you're going to start school soon." He told me, and I knew he meant the civilian school.

"I want to be a ninja, chichi." I told him.

He was obviously taken aback. He crouched down to be at eye-level with me and I could see the concern in his matching golden eyes. "Honey, being a ninja is really dangerous. Do you understand?"

"Yes." I told him, "But I want to be a ninja!"

"Why?"

"Because I want to protect you and the rest of the village." I told him adamantly.

"I can protect myself honey, you don't have to worry about that."

"I want to be a ninja, chichi." I repeated not hesitating to look into his eyes.

It took plenty more arguing, but he finally relented and took me to get signed up at the ninja academy. The moment I entered the classroom I rushed to sit beside Ino. We had a few other girls in our group of friends, but we were still closest to each other.

I was surprised at first, that Naruto wasn't in our class and that Iruka wasn't our teacher. I reasoned that Naruto failed the final exam two years before and that Iruka probably wasn't a teacher with Mizuki yet.

It was even more surprising that Sasuke was so open. He was excited to answer each of Shizuka sensei's questions, and was always smiling. I had almost forgotten that he was such a happy kid before the Uchiha massacre.

At lunch Ino noticed that I kept looking at him. "You like him don't you?" She teased.

"What? No I – " I gave up explaining myself when I realized I didn't really have a reason and that Ino wouldn't believe any excuse I gave her anyway.

I was horrified when she got up and walked straight to him, "Hey, my name is Ino and this is Tsume." She greeted. "Wanna eat lunch with us?"

Sasuke grinned at us, "Yeah!"

Ino smirked at me as I struggled to figure out what to say, "Um so, how do you like the academy so far?"

Sasuke smiled, "I love it! I learned a lot of stuff before from Nii-chan though."

"Yeah I noticed." Ino said. "You never put your hand down!"

I was content to let Ino lead the conversation. After all, she was always more social than I was. The two ended up chattering on and on about Itachi and I felt horrible knowing that Itachi was going to kill the entire clan before we graduated. I wanted to stop it, I really did. But I knew I couldn't. Not only would I not have the power to do so, but the consequences could be catastrophic.

"Tsume? You okay?" I suddenly noticed that Ino was trying to get my attention.

"Yeah, fine. Why?"

"Because Shizuka sensei just said it's time to go back in."

"Oh." I pouted a bit because I hadn't finished my lunch so I shoved what I could into my mouth before following Ino.

"You're such a pig!" She said, but was laughing.

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><p><strong>AN: So this is the set-up... I'm working on chapter 2. I would love some reviews even something simple like a smiley face makes my day. Constructive Criticism is also greatly appreciated :)<br>**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hello again. I'm glad you guys have enjoyed it thus far, and I'm pretty proud of myself about getting this chapter out this early.**

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><p>Life in the academy was fun. Ino and I continued to hang out with Sasuke during lunch, but of course good things never last. It was the very next year when Itachi began to distance himself from Sasuke and I knew the massacre was nearing. I did my best to distract Sasuke from this by inviting him to my house to eat and just generally keeping him busy. But I couldn't make it feel any better when we were eight, nearing our third year of the academy, and his entire family was killed by his beloved older I refused to let him be alone. He also, did his best to shut me out. It took a while, but I slowly got him to at least train together with me.<p>

It was also in our third year that our teacher suddenly changed. It was strange at first because Iruka completely ignored Naruto. Sasuke and Naruto were rivals almost immediately though Sasuke would never admit it to me.

It turned out third year was also when the special kunoichi classes started. Ino and I were both excited about them though she was clearly more so than I was.

Ino and I walked home together on our first day of third year. That was we saw Sakura crying alone on the street. I remembered this. This is when Ino and Sakura first became friends. I worried only for a second that Ino would only be friends with Sakura and would leave me alone. But Ino grabbed my hand as we walked over to meet Sakura. "What's wrong?" Ino asked crouching down to meet her eyes.

"Th-they always c-call me forehead girl." Sakura explained through sobs.

"You always get called forehead girl, and get picked on, eh?" Ino grinned, "I'm Yamanaka Ino and this is Amegi Tsume."

"Hey!" I said with a smile and crouched down next to Ino. "And who're you?" I asked even though I already knew the answer. She mumbled a response.

"Hm?" Ino voiced loudly, "I can't hear you, speak up." Ino poked her forehead, "Oh, so your forehead is wide. So they call you forehead girl." Sakura began to hide her head behind her knees again but Ino's hand was still on her forehead. She pushed Sakura's bangs up, "That's why you hide your forehead with your hair."

"But," I leaned forward to get a better look at Sakura, "That only makes it worse."

"You're right!" Ino exclaimed looking at me. She turned back to Sakura, "It's Sakura right? Come back tomorrow and I'll bring you something cool."

While Ino and I walked home we talked. "Sakura was pretty cute. It's a shame she hides so much."

"I know right!" Ino replied. "I'm gonna give her a ribbon to hold her hair up."

"Oh, good idea." I responded. "We should try to talk to Naruto too." I suggested.

"Why? Nobody likes him." Ino told me.

"Nobody seems to like Sakura either, but you're talking to her."

"But have you seen the way everybody looks at him?"

I crossed my arms, "he's just a kid. I wanna talk to him." I said adamantly.

"Fine fine." Ino said half-heartedly, "but if he gives me any reason not to like him that's the end of it."

"Fine." I agreed.

The next morning Ino and I walked to school together as always. When Iruka began talking about specialization I listened with rapt attention. This lesson wasn't as important to clan kids who would probably just take after their parents, but for a civilian like me it was one of the most important lessons to date. Iruka glazed over techniques that were specific to clans, though what I was most interested in was ken-jutsu.

When lunch time came around I asked Ino to wait up for me. Then I rushed immediately to Iruka sensei. "Sensei, is there someone who could teach me ken-jutsu?"

"Tsume," He seemed surprised. "You're a bit young. This lesson was just to get you thinking."

"But I really want to learn it!" I told him.

"You're still learning the basics."

"Please, Iruka sensei?" I begged.

He sighed. "I can set up a meeting with a teacher, but from there it's entirely his decision, alright?"

"Thank you!" I said before giving him a hug.

He chuckled. "Talk to me tomorrow, and I'll tell you when and where, okay?"

"Kay!" I replied before skipping out to meet Ino. I practically dragged her to meet Naruto. "Hello, I'm Tsume, and this is Ino."

Naruto looked at us warily as if he wasn't sure we were talking to him.

"You're Naruto, right?" Ino asked when he greeted us with only silence.

"Yeah…" He replied, still wary.

"Do you wanna eat lunch with us?" I asked. "You don't seem to know anybody in this class."

Suddenly he grinned. "Yeah, Dattebayo!"

I smiled back at him before dragging him toward our usual spot. "So I got Iruka to set up a meeting between me and a ken-jutsu specialist." I announced.

"Really? Congratulations." Ino said.

"That's the thing with the swords right?" Naruto asked.

"Yup." I told him. "What are you going to specialize in Naruto?" I asked.

He seemed to think for a bit before responding, "I don't know. Anything that doesn't have to do with clones." He told us and I had to resist the urge to laugh out loud.

"Well, I'm just going to learn my clan techniques." Ino told us.

As lunch ended Ino leaned over to whisper to me, "I guess he isn't so bad."

I grinned at her, "I told you so."

As soon as class ended Ino practically dragged me over to where we were supposed to meet Sakura. She was waiting for us with her head lowered to the ground and her toes digging into the ground. "Sakura!"

Sakura looked up at us, but her hair still covered her eyes. Ino held out the ribbon to her. "What's this for?" She asked.

"To hold up your hair, silly." Ino and I said at the same time.

"But…" Sakura protested. "My forehead."

Ino moved over to put the ribbon in her hair. "When you cover it up like that it just brings it more attention." She stepped back to admire her handiwork.

"It's cute." I informed her.

Sakura blushed and looked down at her feet again. Ino crossed her arms, "look up." She demanded and Sakura complied. "C'mon you two, or we'll be late for the kunoichi classes." Ino took one of our hands in each of hers and dragged us back to the academy.

The next day I went straight to Iruka about a ken-jutsu teacher. When he told me the name I almost changed my mind. "Gekko Hayate has agreed to a quick meeting after your kuniochi classes this afternoon." I gaped like a fish for a half a second before confirming that I would be there.

The rest of class was simple, but I was too restless to pay attention, and if it weren't for Ino and Sakura I probably wouldn't have payed much attention to the kunoichi classes either.

As soon as class was out I rushed to meet Hayate. It wasn't immediately obvious how long he had waited for me, but he certainly hadn't just arrived. The first thing he did when I greeted him was cough before introducing himself.

"Why are you interested in Ken-jutsu?" He asked after our greetings.

"A lot of reasons," I admitted. "The first one is that I don't have a specific family technique." The look he gave me let me know right away that wasn't enough for him.. "I don't have a large amount of chakra, nor am I particularly strong." He seemed more interested, but still kept silent. I took a deep breath and continued to talk. "I'm flexible and agile both things that can be greatly enhanced through use of kenjutsu."

"None of those are bad reasons," he said through coughs. "But why do you want to learn kenjutsu? There are many other techniques with the same benefits."

I racked my brain for what he could be looking for before just blurting out what was on my mind. "Because I like it! Iruka sensei was talking about it and I thought it seemed really cool."

"Alright, I'll train you."

"That's it? That's all I had to say?"

"No, if you hadn't known anything about it I wouldn't have believed you were interested." Hayate began to cough a bit before going on. "But, if you hadn't expressed actual interest I wouldn't have believed you could dedicate yourself to it."

"Oh." I was silent for a few moments before asking, "When do we start?"

"Soon, however," He paused for a bought of coughing, "If I'm going to teach you kenjutsu I'll also be overseeing much of your other training. We'll meet every day. Though you'll be able to keep your school schedule your family time will drastically decrease. Are you alright with that?"

"Yes." I answered without hesitation.

"Alright, meet me at training ground eleven after each of your kunoichi classes."

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><p><strong>AN: Yup, so we're not quite to graduation... Next chapter I'll probably cover more of her relationships in academy life before moving on to graduation... Whether it all happens next chapter is yet to be seen. And yeah, Hayate is her teacher. I really wanted to write about someone using kenjutsu and I think Hayate would make a good teacher considering he canonically already was one...<br>**

**Thanks for the reviews last time, guys. I was grinning like a loon :) Once again, even a simple smiley face can make my day, if not my week, so I'd love to hear from you guys.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: So this is a really short chapter and I'll explain why at the author's note at the end.**

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><p>One of the most terrifying days of my life was when I introduced Naruto to my dad. I had gotten so used to ignoring the other kids that I had almost entirely forgotten how bad it was for Naruto. I couldn't imagine my dad who raised me all on his own could possibly be cruel. Yet the moment I took Naruto to the dango shop and introduced him my father pushed me behind him and glared at Naruto.<p>

It took all the courage I had to yell, "Dad!" and move to stand with my arms spread out protectively in front of Naruto.

"Tsume, get away from him." My dad growled, but I stood my ground.

"Takeshi!" I turned to the sound of Anko hollering dad's name. "He's fine." She turned to me and Naruto who was cowering behind me, "Why don't you guys go play at the park, I'll talk to Takeshi, okay?"

I nodded mutely and tugged Naruto out of the shop with me, ignoring the stunned look on dad's face. It hurt to know that my kind, caring father was one of those who disapproved of Naruto.

When I came home later that day dad sat me down to talk. "I'm sorry about how I acted earlier. I'd heard some bad things about Naruto before, and I was only trying to protect you."

"But daddy, Naruto's super nice!" I protested.

"Yes, I know honey. I was wrong. I want you to invite him over again sometime for free dango."

I grinned, "Okay, daddy."

I was in for a shock when I was hanging out with Ino and she suddenly said, "You better watch yourself."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean with Sasuke. Now that he's all mysterious and broody he's kind of hot."

"Ino!" I gasped.

She shrugged, "That's what everybody's saying. Anyway, you're the only one he talks to anymore and the girls are getting jealous."

I twisted my mouth into thought. She was right, I felt their glares during class and whenever I was away from an adult they would insult me. It would probably be worse than that if I wasn't around somebody else all the time.

It was a few days after that when Sakura came to tell us the exciting news of her crush on Sasuke. Ino immediately glanced my direction. She had been friends with Sasuke before the incident and believed that I had a crush on Sasuke so she had never developed feelings. Unfortunately it looked like Sakura still did. I never meant to lose Sakura as a friend, but I couldn't convince her that I didn't like Sasuke as well and she distanced herself from me. Ino offered to stop talking to her, too because we were friends first, but I insisted that Sakura still needed a friend.

Graduation came so much faster than I thought it would. I felt bad for Naruto when he failed, but I knew better than to talk to him. He had to have his run-in with Mizuki because that was an important development. Instead, after receiving my headband, I went straight to Hayate for his graduation present he promised me. "Hayate sensei!" I called and waved my headband at him with a grin.

He smiled back and coughed a bit before saying, "Congratulations."

Next Yugao came out, "Congrats."

"Thanks Yugao senpai." I had taken to calling her that because in sword training she was my better.

I didn't do any training with Hayate that day, but he promised that he would duel me everyday until orientation so I could get used to having an actual sword. Next I went to the dango shop to talk to Anko and dad. I came in with a huge grin and waved my headband again. Anko matched my grin and ruffled my hair, "Great job brat."

Dad came out of the kitchen with a smile. "Do you want to go out for dinner to celebrate?"

"Can we invite Ino? She also passed."

"Of course, I just have to let the rest of the kitchen know."

"Do you wanna come Anko?" I asked.

"Sure, kiddo."

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><p><strong>AN: Okay, so I have two options here. Either, I could have Tsume be part of Team 7 (Yeah, I'm just gonna say that now) with Sakura on some other team... Or, I could have Team 7 be a group of four... Either way works for me, but I wanna hear what you guys think because I'm not sure. So just let me know in a review, and even if you don't have an opinion on this particular matter I'd love to hear from you anyway :D<br>**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: I'm pretty proud of myself for this quick update :) I'm not going to promise it will last though.**

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><p>Orientation came too quickly and too slow at the same time. I was worried about which team I would be placed on. On one hand I could replace one of the rookie nine, but then I didn't know what would happen to them. On the other hand I could be placed on another team and run the risk of either not becoming a ninja that year or replacing a whole team of the rookie nine. Either way I wasn't sure I liked it, but I really did want to become a ninja.<p>

I was shocked when Iruka told us that there would be one team of four. Was that even possible? But he just continued to explain that an indivisible number had graduated and that it had to be done. Yet, even more surprising is that I was placed on team 7 with Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura. I couldn't have asked for a better placement. Sakura's fangirling of Sasuke was a bit worrying, but I was excited. I knew the storyline; maybe I could change some things for the better.

I almost decided to pull the three together to eat lunch, but decided against trying to start a civil conversation just yet. Instead I just grabbed Sasuke and handed him a lunch I made because I knew otherwise he would only eat onigiri which won't give him all the nutrients he needs. I noticed Sakura glared at me, but I ignored her and handed Naruto another lunch because otherwise he would only eat ramen. It had taken a lot of prodding to get him to eat anything else.

I ended up eating lunch with only Naruto because Ino ate lunch with her team. I didn't mind so much, but most of the conversation (if you could call it that) was Naruto complaining about Sasuke. I did my best to tell Naruto he wasn't that bad, but he barely heard me.

I was almost relieved when lunch was over until I remembered how long it would take for Kakashi to come. I was then stuck in a tense room with my three teammates. Naruto was getting bored, and I could tell Sasuke just wanted to leave. I drew my sword and started to do some of the most basic practice moves that Hayate taught me to pass time. I felt the other's stares on me, but I ignored them and continued. I almost sighed in relief when Naruto began to position the eraser in the door, because it was the sign that Kakashi was almost there. Sure enough, I soon heard those famous words, "My first impression is, I hate you."

I could tell the other three were shocked, but I held in my laughter as we headed to the roof. When Sakura and Sasuke introduced themselves it didn't change at all from canon, but Naruto's did, even if only slightly. He added that he liked his friends and that he wanted to protect them and I admit, I blushed a little as I realized I had an impact on him.

Then all of a sudden it my turn so I took a deep breath and began. "My name is Amegi Tsume. I like my friends and hate needless deaths." I noticed Kakashi widen his eye slightly at that and I knew that it wasn't an ideal hatred for a ninja, but I continued anyway, "My hobbies are hanging out with my friends and practicing kenjutsu. And my dream for the future is to protect my precious people." I purposely worded it like that because of the later events that I knew were coming.

I ignored Kakashi as he tried, quite successfully, to scare the other three when informing them about that survival training. And when we were finally dismissed to go home I invited all three of my fellow genins to eat at the dango shop. Only Naruto took me up on the offer, but I knew the other two would be more social as we got closer as a team.

The next morning I made breakfast for my teammates, knowing that they wouldn't eat anything after what Kakashi said yesterday. While I knew that I could be late, I also knew that my teammates probably wouldn't accept it if I was so I left when I was supposed to.

I arrived slightly after the other three and I could tell they were dead tired. Sasuke wasn't as much, but I assumed it was because he normally got up early to train anyway. They all looked shocked when they saw the picnic basket I carried. "What's that for Tsume?" Naruto asked as his stomach growled.

"You guys are hungry right?" I asked. "I have enough for all of us."

Sakura scoffed at me, "Sensei said we weren't supposed to eat."

I smiled at her, "If we don't eat we won't have any energy, and I think that's more important than what he said."

"But, sensei said we'd throw up." Naruto said with a face.

I shrugged, "If you exercise on an empty stomach you're more likely to throw up. Plus, then you'd be throwing up stomach acid which is even worse." Throughout the conversation I was setting up the meal, and when I said that they all seemed to give in and sit around me.

By the time Kakashi arrived we were finished eating and everything was packed up again. He relayed one of his outrageous reasons for being late before telling us about the bell test. I was little surprised that there were still only two bells when there were four of us. Sakura was the one who asked about it though. "This way at least two of you fail." Kakashi explained. "Normally, you have a greater chance of passing, but because of your extra member it will be harder." I frowned, he really was trying to pit us against each other, and if I hadn't known I would have fallen for it, too.

When Kakashi began to taunt Naruto I almost held him back, but realized that I shouldn't because they needed to realize that Kakashi wasn't a joke. I racked my brain for how I could keep the three from running of in different directions. I finally just decided to nudge Sasuke because if I had him on board Sakura would be easy, and Naruto wouldn't run off anyway. "When Kakashi says start go to the left." I whispered. "I'll explain more there."

I could tell he was contemplating it, but he finally responded, "hn," as usual. I was pretty sure that he wouldn't have agreed if he didn't respect my skills from all of our spars. I could feel Sakura's glare on me as I talked to him, but I could also see Kakashi staring at us with interest. However I didn't have time to think about it, because before I knew it Kakashi said, "Start!"

I rushed to the left and met up with Sasuke. "You've seen the guy, he's obviously jounin and neither one of us will be able to get the bell on our own. We need to team up with Naruto and Sakura."

"We can do it ourselves."

"Were you even listening? He's a jounin. And if you aren't willing to work with people you're never going to get strong enough."

He shot a glare at me before saying, "Fine. Let's find them."

Naruto, of course, was easy to find. I waited in the trees with Sasuke until Naruto was strung up to the tree and Kakashi was gone before hopping to the ground and getting Naruto out of the tree. "Hey dobe." Sasuke said with a smirk.

"What do you want, teme!" Naruto sneered.

"Guys, we don't have time for this. We need to find Sakura." Just as the words left my mouth we heard her scream. "Let's go!" As we rushed to the source of the sound we found Sakura passed out. I shook her awake, and it took a little while to get her out of her daze. "We need a plan." I said out loud.

"I still don't understand why I have to work with teme." Naruto complained.

"Because you can't do it yourself dobe."

Naruto glared and was about to say something before I interrupted again, "Guys, time is running out."

"Fine." Both of them said at once and I had to stop a whole other fight.

"Okay, we'll need a distraction, a main assault, and somebody who can sneak by and grab the bells." I said. "I suggest Naruto for the distraction because that's the most believable. Sasuke and I will be the main assault because Kakashi already suspects that we're working together. And finally, Sakura, can you sneak to grab the bells?" I asked.

"Anything for Sasuke-kun." She said without looking at me.

"Alright, Naruto, go draw him out."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically before heading to where we decided to enact the plan. There he stood on a branch and shouted, "Hey, you one-eyed freak! Come out and fight me!"

Kakashi did come out still reading his book. Naruto was angry and I could tell he was holding himself back from punching him so that Sasuke could use his fireball jutsu. Kakashi's eye widened quite visibly as he dodged the fireball. Next I came out with my sword forcing him back towards the trees where Sakura waited.

"Naruto!" I shouted, and before long several clones held him in place while Sakura lunged forward and grabbed both bells.

Kakashi chuckled and admitted defeat. Then he looked at Sakura, "so who will pass with you?"

"Sasuke-kun of course." She responded easily, but then she looked torn as she held the other bell in her hand.

I turned to Kakashi sensei, "Does it matter? The bell belongs to all of us. We know how to share."

Sakura perked up, "Yeah!"

Sasuke looked at his bell and muttered, "Whatever." And threw it at me.

Kakashi smiled, "In that case, you all pass."

"Really?" Sakura jumped up and down excitedly, "Yay!" I could almost see Sasuke resisting to cover his ears.

"Our first mission is in the morning, so be prepared."

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><p><strong>AN: yup, so only one person reviewed (Thank you AnimeWriterFreak), and I've decided to go with four people on Team 7. I hope you liked it and that I portrayed the characters well :) And I hope you'll review, and tell me if there's anything you hated or loved or would like to see in the future :D<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Sorry it's been so long guys. I broke my wrist making it somewhat difficult to type. I hope to have the next chapter up faster.**

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><p>I was up early the next extremely excited for my first mission. I had packed breakfast again because I figured that none of them had eaten enough, and that they might want to eat something while waiting for Kakashi who would inevitably be late.<p>

When I arrived I wasn't surprised to see Sasuke and Naruto glaring daggers at each other. "Hey guys, you hungry?" I asked hoping it would make them forget whatever they were arguing about. Thankfully it worked and both boys clambered over to for something to eat. "What about you Sakura?" I asked ignoring her glare.

"I can't, I'm on a diet." She responded.

"That can't be healthy." I said, "You look fine, besides, whatever mission we're going to get could require effort and it always helps to eat first."

"Fine." She grumbled but brightened up when she realized there was space next to Sasuke.

"So," I pondered how to start a conversation with these three. "Our first mission…" I trailed off and was thankful when Naruto picked it up.

"Just watch! I'll take out all the enemy ninjas, dattebayo!" Sasuke snorted and Naruto turned to glare, "Have something to say, teme!"

"Don't talk to Sasuke-kun that!" Sakura shouted at him.

"Hey guys, if you want to fight I'm willing to bet Kakashi won't be here for a while." I said. "We could spar two against two."

The three of them looked at me and Naruto was the first to shout. "Yeah! Let's do it, dattebayo!"

Sasuke nodded and added, "How would we split up the teams?"

I thought for a moment before saying, "Me and Naruto against Sasuke and Sakura." My reasons were simple. Naruto and Sasuke would do better against each other at this point than with each other, and if I said I would be on the same team as Sasuke Sakura wouldn't forgive for a long time. This arrangement seemed to satisfy everyone except Sasuke who was looking warily at Sakura who was grinning ear-to-ear. I only hoped that Sasuke would be able to tolerate her long enough for the spar.

I guess I shouldn't have been surprised at how the spar turned out. I had fought like this a lot with Sasuke over the years and if nothing else he was committed to learning new tricks. It probably wasn't hard for him to convince Sakura to just stay out of his way and he immediately categorized me as a greater threat than Naruto. Naruto, upon realizing this, was dead-set on proving him wrong which resulted in a flurry of unorganized Narutos fighting each other to get to Sasuke.

I didn't have time to help him though because Sasuke was still, as I said, focused on me. Sasuke smirked at me. "Why would you choose that dobe to be your teammate?" I could have been imagining it but I think I heard a hint of bitterness.

I smiled back at him and replied, "It was an attempt to balance power." He was swiftly dodging each slash of my sword until he ducked under it and delivered a punch straight to my gut. I gasped and lunged back, but Sasuke was still faster than me. That was when Naruto was finally able to stop fighting himself and get into the fray. Not without announcing himself first though.

Sasuke was easily able to jump to a safe distance before beginning to form very familiar handsigns. "shit." I cursed involuntarily and dived to defend Naruto who had no clue what was going on. I managed to escape an actual burn, but the heat was overwhelming. Sasuke threw two kunai one right next to my head and the other next to Naruto's proving that he could have taken us out and that he won the spar.

"You need to get better at recognizing jutsu, dobe."

Naruto growled, "I wanna rematch! I'll beat that teme next time easy, dattebayo!"

"Naruto." I said softly, attempting to calm him down while Sasuke only scoffed.

"Sasuke-kun!" We all turned to Sakura who was now being held in a tree by Kakashi.

"Not bad Sasuke!" Kakashi called down. "But you forget about Sakura. Imagine if I were the enemy." He swiftly pulled out a kunai and held it against Sakura's throat. "I could choose to kill Sakura, or I could demand your life instead." Sasuke was silent but my trained eye saw his fist clench ever so slightly. "This is your first lesson as Team 7." He let Sakura go, and said one last thing, "Remember this: Those who break the rules are scum, but those who abandon their friends are worse than scum." I nearly grinned as he said those words despite the fact that I knew the pain laced into them.

"Well then," Kakashi jumped down from his tree, "shall we get our first mission."

The only one who really reacted to our first mission negatively was Naruto. Kakashi and I were expecting it, Sasuke didn't show his emotions in the first place, and I think Sakura was happy so long as she was with Sasuke. However, all three of us were annoyed at having to deal with Naruto's loud shouts of annoyance. I finally popped in with an idea I had thought of a while ago that we could use for our D rank missions. It was easy to implement it into our fence painting mission.

"Guys, I propose a competition."

"What is it Tsume?" Naruto asked excitedly.

"We each have to paint a certain part of the fence. The person who paints it the fastest wins." I finished and quickly added, "and it has to look nice or you automatically lose." Then, just to make it more enticing I said, "Fastest painter chooses where we eat tonight and slowest painter pays!"

Naruto and Sasuke were both happy with the idea of a free meal, and I'm pretty sure Sakura didn't care so long as she got to eat with Sasuke. And thus, the race was on. Painting was easy for me. It was just a bunch of repetitive movements. Instead of finding it boring I related it to my kenjutsu training where the same movements were the basics I had to repeat every day. I was only slowed down slightly by peeking in on the others every now and then. I wasn't surprised to see Sakura farthest behind. Physical abilities weren't really her forte and she wasn't as motivated to come in first. Sasuke was always fast and wasn't lagging far behind me.

It wasn't hard to see the determination in Naruto's eyes. After some clever maneuvering I had managed to set him up right next to Sasuke so the two of them could see each other's progress. Sasuke didn't seem very interested until he realized that Naruto was painting nearly as quickly as he was; probably from all the graffiti he did as an academy student. It took a little while but Naruto finally came to the conclusion I knew he would – shadow clones. Unfortunately he made too many and they all just tried to push each other out of the way thinking that they were the one clone who would make a difference against Sasuke. It resulted in a rather messy fence painting which required the rest of to tidy up.

I grinned proudly at my win and decided the best place to eat would, of course, be my father's dango shop. "Aw, c'mon Tsume! Ramen is much – " I cut Naruto of with a glare before he could insult my father's shop.

I heard Sasuke add a mocking "hn." As Naruto trailed off which caused the blonde boy to shoot another glare at Sasuke.

Before a fight could break out I spoke up, "You lost Naruto, therefore you're treating. And I want dango."

"Fine." Naruto grumbled as I led the way to my father's shop.

Sasuke seemed pretty satisfied with the food which reminded me that both he and Itachi had liked Dango in the show. He did, however, seem uncomfortable with Sakura inching closer and closer to him. Naruto didn't grumble as much when we actually got to eating. He had been here several times before and always ending up liking it, even if it wasn't as much as he liked his beloved Ichiraku ramen.

"So guys," I spoke up as we began to eat. "I was thinking that since Kakashi already seems like he will be late pretty often training might be left up to us."

"Hn," Sasuke agreed at the same time as signaling for me to go on.

"So it might not actually be a bad thing, because he's giving us a chance to find our own specialized teachers in whatever we want to learn. You guys already know I'm going to be a ken-jutsu specialist, and because Kakashi hasn't given us a training schedule I can spend that much more time with Hayate. If you want, I can help you guys find teachers, too."

"Really?" Naruto asked excitedly, "That'd be awesome Tsume!"

"Hn." Sasuke agreed.

"Alright." Sakura agreed. She was uncertain, I could tell, but she didn't want to disappoint Sasuke.

"I already have someone picked out for you, Sakura." I said to her great surprise. "With your intelligence being a poison-mistress would be perfect. Plus, it has the added bonus of going right along-side being a medic-nin which will be useful with these two," I gestured first to Naruto then to Sasuke, "running around."

Sakura glanced at Sasuke before responding, "sure."

"Great! Anko already agreed to teach you." Behind my smile I was remembering how much begging I had to do for her to agree. It would have been humiliating if Sakura said no.

"What about me Tsume?" Naruto asked.

"Um," It had taken me a long time to figure out whom to ask to train Naruto. My first instinct was Gai, but he was busy with his team and he needed to learn more than Tai-jutsu. My next thought was Asuma because I knew they had the same chakra nature and he didn't train with his team much anyway. But in the end I decided that he was Shikamaru's mentor and I didn't want to get in the way with that. I didn't think most of the jounin in the village would want to take Naruto as their student. Finally, I had remembered Genma who served as an elite guard of the hokage and proctored the chunin exams after Hayate died. I doubted he would judge Naruto after working under Minato in the past.

"I haven't had a chance to talk to him yet." I told Naruto, "but I can ask Hayate sensei to set up a meeting for you to talk Genma. He's strong." I assured him.

"Alright!" Naruto exclaimed pumping a fist into the air.

Finally I turned to Sasuke, "I want you to train under Hayate with me."

"What!?" Naruto asked while Sasuke only widened his eyes.

"Naruto, quiet." I commanded. "Sasuke has the grace needed for ken-jutsu, and I suspect that's not the only way it will be useful." I noticed Sakura glaring at me, probably suspecting that I only wanted to train with Sasuke because I was attracted to him. "I also want us to set aside time to train as a team. Being strong individually will not be enough in a real battlefield. I'm sure Kakashi will train us eventually, but for now we will take it upon ourselves. You can all talk to your own teachers to set up a time. Then come talk to me and I'll figure out a team schedule. Any objections?"

Naruto and Sasuke shook their heads while Sakura only managed not to yell at me. "Good." I said with a smile.

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><p><strong>AN: So I hoped you guys liked it, and I'll get straight to work on the next chapter. Please leave a review to tell me what you think :)<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I hope you have as much fun reading this as I had writing it :D**

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><p>I think in that week that I got everybody a teacher was when I first realized I was affecting the story. True, I had become part of team 7 so I knew it wasn't exactly canon. But for the first time I could see my effect first-hand. They were stronger. So naturally I wanted to work hard setting up our first team exercise. I grinned like a fool when my teammates came into the training ground with shocked faces. I had invited the rest of the rookie 9 to help me.<p>

"What's going on Tsume?" Naruto asked glancing at everyone's faces.

"We're going to play a game." I said, still grinning. "It's called Minefield." My announcement was met with blank stares so I began to explain. "Hayate sensei has done me a favor and spread out obstacles in another clearing of the training field. We're going to split into partners that I've already determined. Half of us will be blindfolded and our partners will have to guide us through the 'minefield'. If you run into a mine you're dead. However we we'll be switching up the teams every time through and we'll change the minefield. Any questions?"

"How is this training?" Sakura asked.

"It's a team building exercise. We need to learn to trust each other if we're going to go on missions together. Anyway, I'll announce teams now. First name is the leader while the second name is the blindfolded one. Team 1: Choji and Ino." Ino gaped at me while Choji only continued to eat his potato chips.

"Team 2: Kiba and Shino."

Kiba seemed happy with the placement while Shino was completely undecernable.

"Team 3: Sasuke and Naruto."

"What!" Naruto spluttered. "Why do I have to take orders from a guy like him!"

"Because, Naruto, this is a team building exercise and you and Sasuke are a _team_." Sasuke didn't say anything but he wasn't hiding his glare at Naruto.

"You better lead me through correctly, teme."

"You better follow orders, dobe."

I ignored them and moved on, "Team 4: Hinata and Shikamaru."

This broke Hinata away from staring at Naruto, "Y-yes. I'll do my best."

"And finally, Sakura will lead me." I cleared my throat to get everybody's attention again. "No jutsu allowed. And fastest team gets to choose where we eat tonight." An unoriginal reward maybe, but something nobody here, except maybe Shino, would pass up. Choji, of course, was the most fired up.

I led the way to the obstacle course before putting my blindfold and entrusting myself to Sakura. She wasn't bad at guiding me through. She was certainly loud enough for it and she was great at estimating distances, so rather than saying take a step to the right she would say move three inches to your right.

She wasn't, however, as good at maneuvering me away from one of the others coming to push me. Before I knew it I was being pushed face-first into one of the many obstacles. I stood up carefully and pulled my blindfold off. I wasn't the first to lose. Shikamaru was already standing with Hinata and Naruto was glaring at Sasuke. The only two left were Ino, who had been the one that pushed me, and Shino.

I moved to stand beside Sakura and listened to Choji and Kiba directing their partners through the maze. Both were aggressive about it. Both of them were shouting, "No, don't step there!" "Keep going forward!" "No, my right!" "I can't see you, Choji!"

It took a little while but finally Shino made it through the maze with Ino not far behind.

"Alright." I said and walked to a tree and carved Shino's time into the bark. "That's the time to beat. Now it's time to switch partners. Also switch your role. So if you were a leader before now you're blindfolded and vice versa."

Unsurprisingly, Shikamaru and Choji were the first to pair up. Hinata paired up with Shino. I managed to push Sakura and Naruto in a team before teaming up with Sasuke which left Ino to pair up with Kiba.

Now that I wasn't blindfolded I had a completely different take on the game I had set up. Suddenly, instead of relying only on the sound of one person's voice I was paying attention to everyone to make sure I could guide Sasuke away from danger or into confrontation with a faster opponent. I had to pay especially close attention to Naruto who was dead-set on getting rid of Sasuke, but I also knew that it was just as easy for me to alert Sakura to who she was about to push.

"Left two paces then forward three." I directed Sasuke. I had learned that simple commands were best and that directing a few steps at a time was best. We're ninjas so we're trained to remember long strings of information, but that didn't mean I was going to be cautious so that he didn't get anything mixed up. I tried to keep him a reasonable distance from obstacles but I had him toe the line a couple of times. I kept him clear of Choji who was much larger so Sasuke wouldn't be able to do much against him without his eyesight, but I didn't bother to avoid Hinata who would be rather simple to push out of the way if need be.

My directions certainly weren't bad, but Shikamaru and Choji won by a landslide. I should have suspected as much because as lazy as he is Shikamaru is a born strategist and Choji was his best friend. Choji trusted him no matter what happened and Shikamaru knew he wanted to win the prize of picking where we ate.

We switched a few more times but nobody managed to beat Shikamaru and Choji as a pair. I ended up paired with Ino once and Sakura managed to snag Sasuke as a partner. But soon the sun was beginning to set and the rookie nine were getting very vocal about their hunger. "Fine fine, we'll stop. Shikamaru and Choji have the fastest time so where do you wanna go?"

"Barbecue!"

"Alright, lead the way." In that moment everyone wondered how someone so big could travel that fast.

With ten of us we to request to push two tables together and even then we were a bit cramped. Still, it wasn't so bad after a team-building activity to relax around cooking barbecue.

"Hey Ino, it's been a while since you slept over. Think you can slip away from your family tonight?" I asked.

"Sure, I didn't have anything to do tonight anyway."

"Sakura, you should come too. And Hinata, may as well make it a girl's night." I said with a grin.

"R-really?"

"Yeah, I mean, if your dad will let you hang with the lowly daughter of a shop-owner."

"I-I'm sure h-he won't mind." She stuttered.

"And what about you Sakura?" Ino prompted, "don't wanna be left out do you?"

"Of course not Ino."

Noticing the boys wrapped up in their own conversation a devilish idea latched onto my brain. I put a finger to lips toward the girls and snuck purposefully behind Naruto. Right as he raised his arm in a large gesticulation I dived on his sides and tickled him.

"Ts-Tsume!" He whined between fits of laughter. "Stop!"

"Never!" I cried and relished in the laughter that erupted from everybody else around the table.

"Ch-Choji! Help me!"

"I cannot allow this food to go to waste while protecting you, Naruto."

"Kiba!" Desperation creeped into Naruto's voice.

"Alright Akamaru." Kiba said and with one bark as a battle-cry Akamaru jumped on me and began assaulted my face with kisses. Naruto took the chance to stand up and loom over me while wiggling his fingers threateningly.

"Nooo!" I cried to no avail as I was subject to Naruto's revenge. "Ino!" I called.

"Us blondes have to stick together Tsume." She said with a grin.

"Sakura?"

"I might break a nail." She said holding backing laughter.

"Hinata?"

"U-um. I-I…" I'm pretty sure just the thought of trying to stop Naruto made her go red and faint.

Finally I turned to my last hope, "Sasuke?"

"If you can't beat dobe I no longer have respect for you."

"Traitors!" I wailed between giggles.

Faintly in the background I heard, "I'm hurt that you forgot about me Tsume. I am a precious teammate as well."

"Sh-Shino?" I squeaked, and the bug ninja graciously separated Naruto from me and I was able to escape back into the safety of my seat. "You have my most heart-felt thanks." I said to him as I sat down, and he simply nodded in reply.

As the night grew darker we all left the BBQ shop, and I left with the three girls to my house. "Girls." Dad greeted with a smile. "It's been far too long. And who's this?" He asked referring to Hinata.

"This is Hinata." I elected to ignore her clan name in hopes that I could show her she was more than them. "Hinata, this is my dad, Takeshi."

She bowed politely, "It's nice to meet you, Amegi-san."

"Takeshi's fine." Dad said jovially. "I'm turning in early tonight Tsume, but you girls have fun."

"Kay, good night Chi-chi." I said before leading the girls to my room. I flopped on my bed, "Alright, what do you guys wanna do first?"

"Make-overs." Ino and Sakura said in unison and I laughed.

"Typical. Alright, you two get to be the make-up artists now choose your canvas."

"I want Hinata!" Ino declared pushing her so she was sitting on my bed beside me.

"M-me?"

"Well yeah. Your hair's too short to do much with, but your face is like a doll's."

Ino didn't, however, give much thought to the fact that Sakura still thought I was pining after Sasuke. Fifteen minutes later and there was a clown staring at me through my mirror. "Doesn't it suit you perfectly?" Sakura said with a smug look on her face.

"Yeah," I said grabbing whatever round things I could. "I'm getting the urge to juggle." Then I promptly through one of the items in her face. "Guess I need more practice though."

"Bitch." Sakura said while batting away stress ball I had thrown. Despite what she said she was smiling with for the first time in a while.

"G-guys?" Hinata asked uncertainly unsure exactly what our relationship was.

"Guys." I said with a devious smile. "Let's have a pillow fight!"

"Yeah!" Ino shouted grabbing the biggest pillow in my room and batting Sakura with it."

"No fair, I'm unarmed!" She shouted before grabbing another pillow and fighting back.

I thrust a pillow at Hinata, "Don't be shy. It's fun." Then I took my own pillow and smashed it against Ino's face.

Somehow within all of the fun we had passed out. I was faintly aware of Hinata draping a blanket over each of us before darkness completely took me.

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><p><strong>AN: So I'm planning to get into the actual plot in the next couple of chapters, but for now I wanted to show how Tsume fit into the story. I would love it if you reviewed to tell me what you think and constructive criticism is always welcome :)<br>**

**Oh, and if you notice I now have I cover that I drew. Because I never really described what Tsume was wearing or anything you can look at the cover. Meanwhile, I think I'll go back and find a way to insert it.**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Hello again, not gonna say much, but hope you like the chapter.**

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><p>Training progressed smoothly over the next few weeks. Sasuke was frustrated at the slow rate ken-jutsu progressed, but he had enough dedication to stick with it which is partially why I thought ken-jutsu would be well-suited to him. It took a little while, but he did get to a point where he could spar against me, albeit not always winning.<p>

Team 7 continued to perform excellently with their D-rank missions, and I always found a way to add some sort of competition or training to it. I could see the change Genma had brought out in Naruto. He wasn't as brash, nor was he as clumsy with his clones. Don't get me wrong, he was still undoubtedly Naruto. He had just matured slightly faster.

Time seemed to move so quickly and soon enough we were assigned the dreaded Tora mission. Not that it was a bad mission, but it was no exaggeration to call it a demon cat. To be honest that mission went almost exactly as it had in canon with the exception of Naruto not lagging behind as much. Though Sasuke and I were clearly still faster than the other two.

Despite his new-found maturity Naruto wasn't going to stand for another D-Rank mission, so we were assigned the mission of guarding Tazuna. "How are these brats supposed to protect me?" He slurred as he walked through the door. "Especially the blonde one with the stupid look on his face."

As Kakashi held Naruto back I spoke up. "Trust me, we won't let a single hair on your head be harmed. Just feel lucky you've got a bigger team than most." I was small. Smaller than Naruto, so I wouldn't be surprised if the only reason he shut up was because I had a sword hanging at my waist.

We were dismissed to get packed because this would be a longer mission and were told to meet up at the gates in an hour. Unlike the boys, Sakura and I had to inform our parents which meant I had to make an extra stop and the dango shop to find dad.

I rushed into the kitchen where he worked with a smile on my face, "dad, I got my first D-rank mission!"

"What's that mean?" He asked. I had forgotten my dad was a civilian and wasn't aware of most shinobi classifications.

"Well, we classify mission danger levels with letters. The lowest is D-rank which is relatively no danger. C is the rank above that and has a possibility of mild dangers such as bandit attacks." Seeing the horrified look on dad's face I added, "Something that even someone of genin level won't have much trouble with."

"What will you be doing on this mission?"

"I'm protecting a bridge-builder from bandits while he finishes his bridge. He might not get attacked at all, so don't worry." I felt bad lying to him, but it was better than worrying him. I would be back, I knew I would.

"How long will you be gone?"

"A few weeks. Like I said, it all depends on when he finishes the bridge."

Suddenly I was smothered in my dad's chest and I heard him barely whisper, "Be safe." Then he let me go with a quick kiss to the forehead.

I rushed to the gate with a bag now packed. Naruto didn't show his excitement of leaving the village quite as openly as he did in canon, but he still looked wide-eyed at his surroundings. Then again, so did I. We were the first two out the gates and I took in everything I could. There were trees in Konoha but here they were everywhere, green nearly covered the sky. Though I'm pretty sure it was my imagination, it seemed like the air smelled cleaner, like summer after spending too long indoors.

Traveling outside quickly lost its appeal the longer we spent walking. The anime didn't highlight how long it took to travel to the land of waves, because it wasn't important. Had we been traveling at a ninja's pace we could have been there in two days maybe sooner, but with Tazuna swaying around like a drunk it would take nearly a week.

After setting up camp we set up a watch schedule. We let Naruto take first watch, if for no other reason than to let him burn off some energy. I took second while Kakashi took middle watch because it was the most difficult. Sakura, as the weakest, took last watch as it was generally the easiest.

Before we went to bed though we had to make dinner. Our first out of village mission also meant our first time hunting live animals for food. It wasn't really that difficult to find food in the land of Fire because we were surrounded by forest animals. That and we were ninjas, so hiding and striking quickly wasn't a problem. Our dilemma was only that killing an innocent animal and then eating it was something that was difficult. I grew up on dango and store-bought foods. Suddenly I was roasting a rabbit on an open fire that not five minutes ago was hopping freely about its home.

I had mostly gotten over my supper-time guilt when Naruto called me over for lookout duty. It was boring, but not difficult after all the time I had spent waiting for Kakashi so we could finally pick up our mission every day. Plus, with a larger team we had shorter shifts, so it didn't seem long before I Kakashi had come to relieve me.

Our trip was uneventful until our fifth, and last, day. If I hadn't been searching for it I probably wouldn't have noticed the puddle we passed that morning. Kakashi said nothing whilst I, ever so slightly, moved my hand closer to my sword. Even knowing they were coming I was shocked to see Kakashi ripped apart and his limbs fall to the ground. I drew my sword and did my best to steady my shaking arm.

Sasuke lunged into action quickly pinning their chains to a tree with a shuriken kunai combination before drawing his own sword. He dug his sword into one of men's shoulder before they detached their chains and moved to attack. Snapping out of my stupor I moved to guard Tazuna from his attacker by stopping his metal hand with my sword. Then, using my superior speed I ducked underneath the man's arm and kicked his stomach.

I left Sakura with Tazuna to pursue the ninja. I hadn't managed to kick him far, because unfortunately I was probably the weakest of Team 7. I didn't manage to reach the ninja before Kakashi was suddenly standing in front of me, both ninjas limp in his arms.

"Hey." Kakashi said casually. He walked over to Tazuna where I now stood beside Sakura and Sasuke. "Good job, Sasuke. You too, Tsume."

I grit my teeth. I hadn't frozen up like Naruto, but I had stared dumbly with my arms shaking for far too long. Especially when I was already aware of the attack. I chose to ignore my own self-loathing and moved to Naruto. I held a hand out to help him up as he was still staring in shock on the ground. "You alright?"

Sasuke snorted, "Couldn't move huh? Scaredy cat."

Suddenly Naruto was up without even touching my hand and began to lunge toward Sasuke with a battlecry.

"Naruto!" Sensei's voice cut Naruto's attack short. "Now's not the time." Then he turned to Tazuna, "By the way Tazuna-san. We need to talk."

Kakashi tied the enemy ninja up before anything else, and they were awake before long. "These guys are chunin from the hidden mist. They're known to keep fighting no matter what."

"How did you know about our attack?" One of them demanded.

"A puddle on clear day when it hasn't rained in weeks shouldn't exist." Kakashi explained simply.

Tazuna glanced at Kakashi, "Then why did you leave the kids to do the fighting?"

"It would have been easy enough for me to kill them." Kakashi admitted. "But I needed to know who their target was. You didn't tell us you were being targeted by ninja. You only asked for simple protection from robbers. This should have been an expensive B-rank mission. Whatever your reasons lying to us only troubles us. This wasn't part of our mission."

I remember in canon Sakura had suggested that we go back. Now she was silent, although I wasn't sure if it was because Naruto hadn't gotten injured or she was more confident. I would guess a little bit of both. Kakashi glanced toward Naruto, "If anyone is too scared to face enemy ninja then this'll be troublesome. May as well head back now."

"No!" Naruto immediately protested. "I will definitely protect the old bridge-builder, and I won't lose to Sasuke! The mission is still on!"

"Maa, any objections?" Kakashi asked.

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><p><strong>AN: I'm glad you all seemed to like the last chapter :)<br>**

**I would like to thank December 25th for reminding me about honorifics and dashes. I guess I don't think about it much because normally when I write them I'm writing in actual Hiragana for my Japanese class. I'll go back and edit that now.**

**Anyway, please leave me a review to tell me what you think. As always, anything is welcome :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Sorry it's been so long. I caught the flu and my muse took a vacation. Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter :)**

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><p>Despite our setback we were on a boat heading toward the bridge before noon. Tazuna greeted the ferryman jovially, before we set off on our journey through the fog. Without the engine the boat barely felt like it was moving, and the fog made it so thick we couldn't see very far past our faces. As a result it seemed almost as if we weren't moving at all making the journey seem that much longer.<p>

Naruto had been growing restless, so his excitement levels spiked when the bridge came into view. "It's huge." His voice wasn't that loud, but it cut through the open air as easily as a shout would and the ferryman quickly shushed him.

"Tazuna-san." Kakashi said, much more quietly. "Before the boat gets to the pier there's something I need to ask you. The identity of the ones who are after you, and what their reason is. If you can't answer we'll call off this mission as soon as we reach the shore."

"I'll tell you the real story. As you said, it's probably out of your job description. An extremely terrible man is after my life."

"An extremely terrible man?" Kakashi prompted.

"You've all probably at least heard the name. Marine Transportation billionaire, Gato." Even if I hadn't watched Naruto I would have known his name. Unlike Naruto I was more up to date in social matters at least in part because of my father. Dad had spoken of Gato on occasion, because he had to use his services to get certain ingredients but he had never met the man himself."

Tazuna continued to tell us the tale of how Gato began to terrorize the town for his own gain, and how people were starving on the streets because of it. To end his tale he told of his grandson and daughter, and how they would cry if we were to leave him alone to die.

"I guess we have no choice, but to continue to protect you." Kakashi said.

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><p>It was a relief to finally reach mostly dry land. It was damp from the ever-swirling mist, but it was definitely solid and we were finally in a position to set our own pace and fight whoever may come on even terms.<p>

All of us were on high-alert and we stood close to Tazuna at all times. Naruto was eager to show off; the moment he sensed the presence of something new he through a kunai at it. When we brushed back the foliage to look at what he had attacked we saw a white snow rabbit cowering beneath his kunai that had lodged itself in the tree. Now knowing that Zabuza was around I immediately put my guard up.

While Naruto was smothering the rabbit a sword began spiraling toward us. I dragged Tazuna to the ground just as Kakashi was calling for everyone to get down. Before I could stand back up Zabuza had already positioned himself on top of his sword staring down at us like ants to be squashed.

Kakashi, casual as always, stuck his hands into his pockets and addressed Zabuza. "My, my, you're Momochi Zabuza, nuke-nin ninja from the Hidden Mist." Still eager to prove himself Naruto attempted to rush Zabuza, but Kakashi cut him off. "You're in the way. Stay back, everyone."

"Why?" Naruto protested.

"He's not like the other guys you faced."

"I'm guessing you're Kakashi of the Sharingan." Zabuza drawled. "I'm sorry, but you'll need to hand over the geezer." In response to his words I drew my sword and took a defensive position in front of Tazuna.

Not long after I took my position Kakashi called out for everyone else to get into formation. They didn't join me right away. They were all still hanging on to the words of Zabuza and Kakashi. Naruto and Sakura didn't know what the Sharingan was, and Sasuke didn't understand how Kakashi could have it. When Naruto asked about it, Sasuke explained in probably the same way he had been taught as a child, though he cut himself off from giving a in-depth answer. Zabuza picked up where he left off adding the fact that the Sharingan could copy a jutsu down to the smallest detail.

"That's enough talk. I have to kill the old man." It was sudden, and the others finally joined me surrounding Tazuna. Zabuza and his sword were no longer at the tree; instead he was now standing on the water with one arm stretched high into the air. My teammates and I didn't find it so surprising to see him standing on the water. We had already begun to work on it with our senseis. I had been working on it the longest; when Hayate said he would teach me the basics he went much more in depth than the academy did.

The jutsu Zabuza used worked fast and he soon disappeared into the thick mist. "Sensei!" Sakura called out, worry coloring her voice.

"Don't worry, he'll come after me first."

"But who is he?"

"Momochi Zabuza. He was part of the Village Hidden in the Mist's ANBU, known for his silent killing technique."

"S-silent?" Naruto squeaked.

"As the name implies, it's a killing technique that's executed in a flash and carried out in absolute silence. It's possible that you'll be dead before you realize it, and I cannot use my Sharingan to its fullest potential so don't let your guard down." Then, as a side-note he added, "Maa, if you fail you only die."

"You're so carefree!" Sakura scolded, but she tightened her grip on her kunai.

The mist around us swirled and thickened and Naruto voiced his concern. "The Country of the Wave is surrounded by the ocean so a mist often emerges." Tazuna said, not aware that it was mist controlled by Zabuza. Soon, the mist was so thick we couldn't see Kakashi in front of us.

"Eight points." Zabuza's voice cutting through the silence sent shivers down my spine. It only worsened as he continued, "The larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular vein, collarbone, kidney, and heart. Which vital organ should I strike at?"

Kakashi used a burst of chakra to repel most of the mist. Yet, even without the damp cold, goosebumps still dotted my arms. The silence that came next was suffocating. Each second felt like an hour. I was faintly aware of my breaths becoming increasingly shallow, but the majority of my attention was on the terrifying atmosphere that two warring jounins created.

"Sasuke." Sensei's voice was the sun after rain. "Don't worry. I'll protect the four of you with my life." All at once my breath evened out, and I could see the area around me again.

"I don't know about that." Zabuza was suddenly behind and pure reflex made me jump away. In a matter of moments Kakashi had stabbed Zabuza's abdomen and blood flowed freely. No, it was water. I cursed myself for letting my fear take over my mind to the point where I couldn't remember everything that I already knew.

While I was paying attention to myself I missed Zabuza slicing through Kakashi's water clone, and Kakashi threatening him. I looked over just as Zabuza's clone dispersed into water and Kakashi narrowly dodged Zabuza's monster of a sword. I gaped with the others as Kakashi was so easily sent flying with a single kick. Sure, I knew it was going to happen but… It was so different to see a grown man sailing through the air in real life.

I watched dumbfounded with the others as he got trapped in the water. I was shaking by the time Zabuza created his water clone.

"You four may have forehead protectors, but you certainly aren't ninja." Zabuza said before using his jutsu to thicken the fog again. I hadn't realized that Zabuza had kicked Naruto until I heard his headband clatter on the ground and Zabuza say, "You're just brats!"

"Everyone!" I turned my attention to Kakashi. "Get Tazuna-san and run! You can't win against him! He can't move as long as he's holding me, and his clone can't go that far from his real body. Go now!"

I struggled to find voice, but it wasn't coming out. I swallowed several times, but my mouth remained dry.

"We have to fight!" my head whipped around to see Sasuke rushing toward Zabuza. I forced myself to stand on shaky legs determined to help my teammate. Determined not to be useless. But I was too slow. Zabuza easily grabbed a hold of Sasuke and threw him like a ragdoll a few feet away.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura called over and rushed over to him.

I steadied my hand and held out my sword in front of me. My voice was still hoarse but I managed to shout, "Naruto!"

I kept my eyes locked on Zabuza, so I didn't look over when Naruto spoke. "Tsume! We can't beat him!"

"You are a leaf ninja!" My voice was stronger. Encouraging him helped me as well. "Don't abandon your friends!"

I flinched when I saw Naruto rush for Zabuza only to be knocked back just as easily as Sasuke was.

Sakura scolded him while he struggled to stand back up until she saw the headband in his hand.

When he was finally standing Naruto spoke. "Hey you, no-eyebrows over there, put this in your bingo book. The man who will become Hokage of the Village Hidden in the Leaves…" He paused to put his headband on. "The leaf village ninja, Uzumaki Naruto!" I smirked and tightened my grip on my sword hilt. Naruto had a way of inspiring those around him. "Alright guys, I've got a plan!"

"What's this plan of yours Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

He smiled, "Let's go wild!"

Before we could do anything Kakashi started yelling again, "What are you doing? I told you to run! This was over the moment I got caught. You're mission is to protect the bridge-builder! Did you forget that?"

Naruto turned to our charge, "Old man?"

Tazuna only seemed to struggled with the decision for a second, "Don't worry. I caused all this in the first place. I won't say I want to live no matter what. Sorry, go ahead and fight as much as you want!"

"That's how it is." Sasuke said.

"Ready to go?" Naruto added.

I prepared myself to charge into the fray when Zabuza began chuckling darkly again. "You guys really don't learn, do you? Still playing at ninja. When I was your age these hands were already stained with blood."

I had almost forgotten about Zabuza's back story. I listened to it again when Kakashi told us the story of the demon of the mist. While I was still reciting in my head that they were academy students, and we were stronger than them Zabuza struck without warning. He held Sasuke under his foot as he suppressed his cries of pain.

I rushed in with Naruto's clones, but I was faster and reached him first. His elbow dug into my gut before I was pushed away. As I landed I burst into a coughing fit and struggled to regain the ability to breathe. I only managed to hold onto my sword thanks to countless drills Hayate had run.

When I finally regained composure and stood up Sasuke was throwing his fuuma-shuriken, and I had no doubt he was throwing Naruto's clone as well. I felt a smile growing on my face. Zabuza didn't know yet, but we'd won.

I only watched once Kakashi had gotten out of the water prison. It was surreal, seeing this man that I adored as a character in my old life standing in front of me taking out the first man who ever made me fear for my life. I was so enamored by the battle that I had entirely forgotten about Haku until he pierced Zabuza's neck with his senbon.

Naruto was angry, but I merely sheathed my sword. I knew that in canon Haku didn't attack, and everything so far had gone according to my memories. I listened silently as Naruto shouted at this stranger because he was angry about his own strength. He yelled at Kakashi when he was told to calm down as well. That was, until Kakashi said one of my favorite lines, "In this world there are kids younger than you, but stronger than me." I noticed Sasuke tense beside me, but I kept my eyes on Naruto.

I remained silent as Haku left, and watched as Kakashi had to stop Naruto as he pounded his fists into the ground. "These things happen when you're a ninja. If you don't like it make it up next time!" I held back a snicker when Kakashi tried to act casual and lead us away but promptly passed out instead. We left it to the two boys to carry him back to house.

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><p><strong>AN: To be honest I'm not entirely satisfied with this chapter, but I was having struggles simply writing it at all. Next chapter will be better.<strong>

**Reviews would be awesome. Even something simple can make my day, but constructive criticism is also always welcome :)**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Sorry it's been a while, but tada: Chapter!**

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><p>The moment we got to Tazuna's house Sakura took charge and ordered the boys to get a bed for Kakashi. Once Kakashi was laid down she began inspecting him in various ways I didn't understand.<p>

"I didn't know you were studying to be a medic-nin." I mused.

"Yeah, I started reading a few books after you mentioned it before, though I was mostly checking for poisons. It seems he's only chakra-exhausted. It'll be a little while before he wakes up and even longer until he gets all of his motor function back."

"Wow, Sakura-chan." Naruto said in awe. "You're really smart."

"Of course." She replied confidently. It was almost like catching a glimpse of the older version of her, when she wouldn't be so obsessed with Sasuke.

While we waited for Kakashi to wake up we got our own futons set up. While he didn't wake up right after we were done it wasn't long after that. As he woke up Sakura scolded him, "You over did it Sensei. Even if the Sharingan is powerful it puts a lot of strain on your body."

"Ah, sorry."

"But you defeated a powerful ninja!" Tazuna cut in. "So we should be okay for a while."

Sakura nodded, "by the way, who was that boy in the mask?"

I allowed myself to space out while Kakashi explained the hunter-nin to the others and as he came to the conclusion that Zabuza was still alive. It was only when Sakura, Tazuna, and Naruto all shouted at the same time that I focused on what was going on again.

"What does that mean?" Naruto sputtered.

"But you confirmed that he died Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura protested.

"I did confirm it." Kakashi agreed. "But he was most likely in a near-death state. It wouldn't be hard with a Hunter-nin's extensive knowledge of the body."

"Are you sure sensei?" Sakura asked.

"First, he took home the corpse of Zabuza even when it's obvious that the body was heavier than him. Second, he used a weapon that has a low fatality rate. From these two points, the goal of that boy was not to kill Zabuza, but to help him."

"Maybe you're thinking too much." Tazuna suggested.

"No, once a ninja feels that there's something weird he must prepare for it before it's too late." Kakashi explained. "It's one of the ninja's iron rules."

Beside me I saw Naruto with a determined look in his eyes and a smile on his face and remembered how excited he was to have a rematch with Zabuza.

"Sensei, how are we going to prepare for this before it's too late? You can't move for a while…" Sakura asked, and I had to admit, I was curious too. Sasuke and I at least had moved on from tree-walking to water-walking, and I wouldn't be surprised if Sakura had too. I wasn't sure about Naruto because, unfortunately, we hadn't had as many team practices lately.

After Kakashi's quick pep-talk and Inari saying we were all going to die Kakashi took us out to the forest. "What are we doing here?" I asked curiously.

He looked at us, "Well, we have four people so I have a drill in mind." I raised an eyebrow as he blindfolded Sakura and Naruto with their headbands.

"Hey what's the big idea!" Naruto complained. "I can't see!"

"That's the point." Kakashi said. "Zabuza is a master at the silent-killing technique and he blinds you with his mist. You'll have to learn to listen closely and track using senses other than sight." He turned to where Sasuke and I still stood waiting. "I want you two to try and attack them as silently as possible." Almost as a side-note he added, "And try not to hurt them too badly." It was times like these that I remembered that one of the beliefs of a ninja is that if you don't want to get hurt then don't screw up.

Naruto managed to be quiet and at least try to listen for Sasuke, but the moment Sasuke whapped him with his sword Naruto started shouting. I took that opportunity to land a blow on Sakura who couldn't hear my footsteps through Naruto's profanities. Sakura was better than Naruto at predicting where Sasuke or I would show up.

I praised myself for being quieter than Sasuke because while he was sure-footed I had always had more dance-like movements. However Sasuke learned fast and before long he was nearly as silent as I was.

We had gotten into a rhythm after an hour or two, with Sasuke and I switching who was attacking who periodically, when Sensei spoke up again, "Maa, not bad. Now how about you switch roles? Sakura and Naruto can try to land a few blows on you."

By the time we went back for dinner I had quite a few bruises on my face seeing as that seemed to be both Sakura and Naruto's favorite place to hit. Of course Sakura hit me a lot more often than Naruto did because Naruto had a rivalry with Sasuke and Sakura would dare hit the other boy. Had it been Hinata or even Ino I wouldn't have minded but Sakura was _strong._ It was no wonder she was able to become almost a second Tsunade.

"Sasuke, Sakura, you'll be guarding Tazuna tomorrow."

_What? _I looked at Kakashi in disbelief. Maybe I wasn't as good as Sasuke, but surely I had been better than Sakura.

I hadn't had a chance to voice my opinion before Naruto did, "How could that teme be better than me!"

"Naruto." Kakashi said sternly. "You're still much too loud when you go in for an attack. Tsume may be quieter than you she's still not as good as the others at sensing an attacker coming. This was the best way to split up the group."

Kakashi's reasoning made sense I suppose, but I was still annoyed. I grew up sparring with Sasuke, and while I may not have been as strong as him I thought that I was at least better than someone who didn't work hard until after he left.

As frustrating as it was I knew better than to voice my feelings. I practiced with Naruto like Kakashi wanted me to, but I don't know how much good it did me. It had taken long enough for him not to roar out a battle-cry with each of his attacks, and even after hours of practice he still reminded me of an elephant. Naruto was a ninja in the loosest sense of the word; he battles like a brawler. It was a relief to finally go back for dinner.

As we sat down I noticed Sasuke give Sakura a strange look and he took a seat further away from her; it made me wonder what happened while they were at the bridge. Neither one of them said anything though. Dinner probably would have been a quieter affair if Naruto wasn't eager to share how training went and how often he hit me.

After dinner Sakura asked about the picture Inari was looking at just like in a canon and we got the canon story. Naruto immediately declared he would prove to Inari that heroes did exist and began toward the door.

"Where are you going Naruto?" Sakura asked, "If you're going to run the drill you need a partner."

Naruto grinned, "Genma-sensei's been teaching how to walk on water. I have to train that, too!"

I nodded. I wasn't surprised that Naruto hadn't mastered it yet. I had started long before anyone else and Sakura and Sasuke had better chakra control than either of us, though I was still better than Naruto.

The week passed fairly simply, with Naruto and I training together during the day and him doing water-walking by himself at night. He was exhausted by the end of the week so the rest of us left to the bridge without him knowing he could catch up later. Despite knowing that they would be there I acted as shocked as everybody else to see the bodies littering the bridge. This time we didn't need Kakashi to say anything to get into a position to protect Tazuna.

"Long time no see Kakashi." After training my ears for a week Zabuza's voice seemed loud. "I see you still have those brats with you. That one's still shaking." I didn't have to look to know it was Sasuke.

I resisted the urge to flinch when half a dozen Zabuzas appeared around us. "I'm shaking – with excitement." Sasuke said and I could hear his smirk in the tone.

"Do it, Sasuke." He moved on Kakashi's orders with speed that was, to my frustration, a match for my own. I don't know when he was training, though I wouldn't be surprised if he had snuck out to train with Naruto.

"He saw through the water clones. The brat has grown." The real Zabuza made himself known with a masked Haku standing beside him. "Looks like you've got a rival Haku."

"Indeed."

"Maa, it appears my prediction was right." Kakashi drawled. "The masked guy's just standing there next to him. They're allied no matter how you look at it."

"I thought so, too." Sasuke said.

"Who does he think he is, trying to trick us like that?" Sakura demanded.

"I hate conceited brats like that." Kakashi agreed.

"I'll fight him." Sasuke announced. "I hate bastards like that the most."

"You're so cool Sasuke-kun." Sakura cooed.

"Sasuke." I caught his attention. "Don't forget this guy knows a lot about the body. Don't expose your vital points."

"Hn."

When Haku came spiraling toward us with incredible speed Sasuke intercepted him with ease. Despite Sasuke's sword having a longer reach Haku was skilled enough with his senbon to keep the blade away from his body. I bit my lip when Haku used his ice needle jutsu. Without the training fresh in his mind I wasn't sure if Sasuke would think to use his chakra to get away. I needn't have worried really. Sasuke was top of his class, he didn't forget things that he learned.

Sasuke used shuriken and kunai to force Haku back and then appeared behind him and started another bout with sword and senbon. This time, however, he quickly outmatched the masked boy and sent him flying with a kick to the face.

"You can't make fun of our team just because we have kids." Kakashi boasted. "Sasuke is the village's top rookie. Sakura is the village's shrewdest child. Tsume is a skilled leader. And finally the number one hyper-active knucklehead ninja is Naruto Uzumaki."

I looked at Kakashi in surprised. I knew he would praise the other three, but this is the first I heard that he acknowledged my leadership skills. I beamed at the praise.

Of course, as soon as Haku began preparing his ice mirrors I focused my attention back on the fight. Kakashi tried to go help Sasuke, but was stopped by Zabuza. Seeing that Kakashi was stopped Sakura took one of the kunai's that Sasuke had used earlier and tried to throw it to Saskue, but instead Haku caught it instead. It ended up working in our favor when a shuriken hit Haku and pushed him out of the mirror and onto the ground. I groaned as Naruto announced his presence as always, and was relieved when Haku's soft-heartedness saved him from Zabuza's shuriken.

As the fog thickened I leaned over to Sakura to whisper in her ear. "With a fog this thick Zabuza will have to rely entirely on hearing us. Tazuna won't be able to quiet his breathing like we can so I'm going to run in as many puddles as I can to distract him."

"Wha – "

I clasped my hand over her mouth, "Trust me." I took out into a full out run into the fog and before long I couldn't see where anyone was. To be honest the real reason I did it was because I couldn't bear to stand uselessly on the sidelines. It wasn't hard to find some puddles to splash around in. To add to the distraction I started yelling, "Zabuza! Come and get me, coward!" To be honest I wasn't expecting him to actually come, but before I knew it I had to block his sword with my much smaller one.

As I pushed off his sword and backed away from him he chuckled, "who's going to save you now, brat?" I glowered at him, but then seeing his closed eyes I threw a scroll from my pack into a puddle to catch his attention before trying to strike at him. Before my attack could hit somebody grabbed my arm and threw me the opposite direction.

"Tsume." Kakashi growled, "You should be with Tazuna."

I scowled. "Did you notice who _also_ isn'twith Tazuna."

I didn't have to clarify for Kakashi to know I was talking about Zabuza. "He's my responsibility. Now get back to the bridge-builder."

My scowl remained, but I listened to Kakashi. I tried my best to keep cat-like stealth to keep Zabuza from following me to Tazuna. I stayed close to Sakura and Tazuna listening closely for any signs Zabuza coming toward us, but my senses were cut off from both battles taking place on the bridge until a feeling of pure malice washed over me. I knew it was the nine-tails, but it was terrifying that the only thing I could think was how could Naruto remain so pure with something like _that _living inside him?

Thankfully the feeling didn't last long and the fog began to clear up enough that we could see the figures of Kakashi and Zabuza. We could see one of them start to move but the fog didn't clear up enough to see who was who until Kakashi's hand was through Haku's chest. We watched dumb-founded as Zabuza tried to slice through Haku to get to Kakashi but sensei flipped out of the way with Haku's body in hand. Past the two jounin I we saw Naruto so Sakura waved and called over to him. Upon asking about Sasuke, Naruto looked away so both of us rushed over with Tazuna to check on him.

It was surreal, seeing the needles poking through nearly every inch of his body. He really looked dead. Sakura looked ready to cry so I said, "Sakura, help me take the needles out."

She nodded, and I think she was thankful for a distraction from what looked like the reality. Both of us worked slowly. Sakura did because she was still so detached and I did because I knew it would be safer for Sasuke. "Tsume," I glanced at Sakura. "Do you remember the ninja principles?"

"Mn." I confirmed.

"I memorized them all you know." She said and I could hear the tears beginning. "Number 25: A shinobi must never show emotion no matter what the circumstance. A shinobi must put the mission first and possess a heart that will never show tears." As she finished the tears were already running down her face.

I vaguely registered that Gato had appeared with an army of bandits, but I ignored them in favor of staying by Sakura's side as she cried on the now needle-free Sasuke. I could hear Naruto shouting, but I didn't want to look in that direction. People were really dead over there. I wanted to pretend they weren't. So I sat beside Sakura and waited for Sasuke to wake up.

When Sakura finally let him up Sasuke began asking questions, "What happened to that masked kid?"

"He's dead." Sakura told him.

"Dead?" Sasuke questioned. "Did Naruto kill him."

I snorted, "As if. It was Kakashi-sensei." It wasn't that I didn't like Naruto and I know that he had done the majority of the work. I only said it because if Sasuke thought Naruto had managed to defeat Haku when he couldn't we could say goodbye to the teamwork that we were finally getting right.

"Hn." Sasuke grunted. "Of course."

Sakura stood up and shouted over to Naruto, "It's all right! Sasuke's alive!"

Our joyful reunion was cut short by the bandit army still at the edge of the bridge. "Hey, are you forgetting about us? You damn ninjas took our food ticket so we're gonna kill you then raid the town." They began to rush forward to attack but were stopped by an arrow. We turned behind us to see the villagers gathered behind Inari.

"If you come any further the citizens of the country will attack with all our might!" Some of them shouted together.

"Inari!" Naruto shouted.

Inari grinned, "A hero always shows up at the last second, right?"

Suddenly inspired, Naruto created some shadow clones. Kakashi followed his example except at a much larger scale. I knew it didn't matter, but I created some of my own clones. They were only illusions but I didn't think bandits would be able to tell the difference. It wasn't like I had used any chakra the entire fight. We didn't even have to do anything after that. The bandits fled the bridge on the boat Gato had used to arrive and left.

After that we had a meager funeral for Zabuza and Haku and stayed while Tazuna finished the bridge. There was a teary farewell between Naruto and Inari, and then we were on our way back to the village

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><p><strong>AN: Thank goodness this chapter is finally over. The Wave Arc is super important but I <em>hate <em>writing about it. Anyway, I hope you liked it :)**

**Please review :D Leave me a smiley, tell me what you thought of the drill I came up with, or anything else you can think of. Anything makes my day :)**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Sooooorrrry, I've been gone far too long... I didn't mean to, and I don't plan to be gone that long EVER again... Sorry again, but I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

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><p>It was a relief to finally be back home, and as soon as I walked into my house I gave my dad a hug. He wrapped his arms around me in return, and we were both content to stay like that only separating when the whistling of a teapot interrupted us. He took the pot off the stove and poured as each a cup and placed mine at my usual seat at the table while he sat at his own spot. "So how was your mission?"<p>

I took a long sip of my tea to stall for time. If I said too much he would worry about any other mission I would be sent on, but if I didn't say enough he was sure to hear more from Anko or one of my friends later. I took a deep breath, "Well, it was more difficult than we originally anticipated."

Dad just short of slammed his cup on the table. "What do you mean?"

"Er, well…" I bit my lip and tried to avoid his piercing gaze. "We met up with a couple of nuke-nin who were attacking our charge."

His eyes widened, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, Sensei did most of the fighting. I'm completely unharmed." I made a show of standing up and spinning around to prove my point.

He released a breath I hadn't realized he had been holding and I barely heard him mutter, "What are they thinking sending twelve year olds against dangerous criminals?" He turned back to me with the relieved look still on his face. "Well, as long as you're alright how about we have a welcome back dinner – just the two of us?"

"Definitely." I said and finally smiled.

Sparring with Sasuke was considerably more difficult after our trip to the Wave country. My only advantages in the past had been experience with a sword and speed, both of which he had managed to catch up to, if not surpass. I managed to put up a challenge at least, but there was no denying that he was superior.

Another frustrating thing after our mission was the rate at which our teamwork declined. Despite my efforts to reassure Sasuke that he was strong after Haku died he was still under the impression that he wasn't getting strong fast enough. And Naruto wasn't helping by always egging him on. It worried me that we wouldn't be able to cooperate with each other during the chunin exams – a troubling thought with Orochimaru's appearance nearing. The only solution I could think of was to get the rookie nine together again, but this time for a big team exercise rather than pairs. That was how I ended trying to create a strategy to beat both team 8 and team 10 in a game of capture the flag – not an easy feat even with a team that _did_ cooperate.

This game of capture the flag was a no-rules barred with no 'territories' or 'jail'. Rather, we simply had to get the enemy flags back to our own flag and they could stop us with any means necessary. I had no doubt that Shikamaru would avoid contact with the enemy, but none of them would be useful if he couldn't find the flag so we took great care in hiding it. However, Team 8 would have no difficulty finding our flag no matter how skillfully we camouflaged it so Sakura was in charge of setting up traps in the vicinity. I allowed her to use any poisons that Anko taught her that _weren't_ lethal. Sasuke and I had the pure and simple job of actually getting the flag. We were the fastest so we were the most likely to get the flag and get out. However, Naruto's job was the most important. His clones were spread out among the forest so he would be the first to know if anyone stepped foot near our flag. Plus, he made an excellent distraction so Sasuke and I wouldn't be noticed going after the flag.

"I'll take Ino's team." I told Sasuke. "You handle Shino's team." I was more confident in being able to avoid Team 10 than 8, and if Sasuke ran into anybody he was better than I was anyway.

I had absolutely no idea where Shikamaru hid the flag, and I had virtually no scouting abilities so I was wandering blindly. I was wary of every single shadow that was around me while also keeping a look out for the ninja themselves. I honestly had no idea what Shikamaru would have planned for the game; I just knew that whatever it was would be genius. I praised myself for not running into anybody even once by the time I saw the flag. I was about to pick it up when my body stiffened suddenly.

"Shadow possession complete." Shikamaru moved so that when my body copied his movements I could see him expertly hidden in the foliage. Then he turned my body again to see Ino with a familiar hand-sign.

I cursed under my breath as Ino called out, "Mind transfer jutsu." It was a strange sensation to be hit with that jutsu. I felt suddenly light-headed to the point of passing out – something that I had never felt until that point.

I didn't know how much time passed before I woke up again, just that it had been at least an hour and in that time Team 10 had managed to get both flags. Ino held a flag in each hand triumphantly, "Wakey wakey."

I groaned, "Normally when I go to sleep my body's rested. Now my muscles just ache."

"Oh don't get so mad," Ino said with a laugh. "I just borrowed it for a little."

I glared at her, but it didn't have any malice. I forced my body to stand up and stretched a bit to wake it up before asking, "So where are we eating."

"Barbecue. The others are already on the way, but I decided to wait for you to wake up."

"Thanks." I sighed heavily, "I'm so not looking forward to hearing Naruto complaining about losing."

Naruto certainly complained as much as I thought he would, and I decided to leave early. I knew the chunin exams were coming up although I wasn't sure just how close they were. It could've been a week or a month before Kakashi gave us the news, but either way I wanted to be prepared. I had upped my training regime significantly.

Just as I suspected a little over a week later Kakashi left after one of our missions. As per usual Sasuke and I were planning to go spar before our training with Hayate, but we caught a glimpse of strangers on the way and decided to go back and check it out. I recognized Kankuro and Temari immediately so I quickly walked up a tree with Sasuke to get a better view of what what was going on over the wall.

As soon as Sasuke realized that Kankuro was bullying Konohamaru he threw a rock with enough force to make him drop the younger boy. To be honest my being there had no effect on the encounter. I was just a bystander watching as Kankuro apologized to Gaara after he came out and as Gaara and Sasuke exchanged names. I didn't say anything and nobody spoke to me.

The next day we were given our forms to sign up for the chuunin exams, and a week later we went to turn them in. Our meeting with Lee was interesting. Canonically that day was the first time Sasuke tried out his Sharingan, but this time he had already used it in his spars against Hayate, Yugao, and me. Since he started using it I hadn't once beaten him, yet it had no baring on the outcome of his spar with Lee. He was still just about to be beaten horribly when Gai interrupted them... Or more accurately, the turtle interrupted them and Gai came out to bother us. Seeing Lee and Gai together on TV is nothing compared to seeing them right in front of me in a real life. It was a relief to finally slip away and turn in our applications.

"Ah, so you all came." Kakashi said as we approached the doors.

"What do mean sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Well, truth be told this exam can only be taken in teams of three."

"But there's four of us." I pointed out. I had been wondering how that would affect things.

"Maa, I had to get special permission to allow you guys to participate together. There wasn't any team missing a member to slip any of you into to." Sensei sighed, "in any case, you four are now officially signed up for the chuunin exams... don't complain if there are some handicaps for the extra person, alright?"

"Hai, sensei!" The four of us chorused before entering the room.

The room reminded me of the academy in the way it was set up, except instead of children filling up the seats there were ninjas with menacing auras from every hidden village. I thought I was strong but I still blanched at the sight of all those gazes until the rest of the rookie nine appeared. It was a relief to see Ino and after so many training sessions with them I had began friends with the rest of the rookie nine, too. My fears disappeared as I began chattering amiably with them until we were interrupted by Kabuto.

I did my best not to glare at him considering my knowledge of the future. I pointedly ignored everything he said and even Naruto as he blatantly made an enemy out of everyone in the room. It was all I could do not to punch him in the face and I was glad when the sound-nins did my work for me. As Sakura and Naruto fussed over Kabuto I directed my attention to the front of the room where Ibiki was about to show up. When he did he easily took the attention off of us and onto the actual exam.

Each of us drew a paper telling us where to sit. Somehow or another I had the misfortune of sitting beside one of Orochimaru's lackeys. I wasn't sure of his name as he was never really that important, but I still didn't want to sit next to him. I bit back a scowl and spaced out as Ibiki began telling us the rules for the test.

When he told us to begin, rather than turn over my paper I turned it sideways and began to write 'DANGO' in big bubble letters. When I was satisfied that I wasn't going to get the letters to look any prettier I began to decorate around the letters with flowers. I had never been a particularly good artist and flowers were simple so I stuck with them. When I finished I looked at the clock and was relieved to see that time was almost up. I glanced to the person beside that I didn't think served the embodiment of evil and flipped my paper over to fill whatever answers I could see from that one glance before directing my attention to the front to wait for the tenth question.

No sooner had I looked at him than Ibiki said, "alright, its time for the tenth question." Once he was sure he had the attention of everybody in the room he added, "Yes but before that there is something I must say. A special rule for the tenth question." He was interrupted by Kankuro entering the room, but easily took it into stride. "You're lucky. You're puppet show didn't have to go to waste." The panic in Kankuro's eyes was obvious, but Ibiki simply said, "Oh well, sit down."

After Kankuro sat down Ibiki continued, "I will explain. This is a hopeless rule." He paused for dramatic effect then said, "First, you will choose if you want to take the tenth question or not."

"Choose? So what happens if we don't take the tenth question?" Temari blurted out.

"If you choose not to take it then your points will be reduced to zero. In other words, you will fail." After he spoke there were outbursts from everyone in the room including from the guy next to me. "And here is the other rule: if you choose to take it and you get it wrong, you will… lose the privilege to ever take the test again."

This time Kiba stood up, "What kind of bullshit rule is that? There should be plenty of people here who have taken the Chuunin exam in the past!"

Ibiki laughed, "You were unlucky. This year, I'm the rule. That is why I gave you the option of quitting. Those who aren't confident can choose not to take it, and take the exam next year or the year after that."

I yawned. He really did lay it on thick, and I was glad I already knew the answer or I would be panicking. "Lets begin." Ibiki spoke. "Those who will not be taking the tenth question raise your hands. After we confirm your number you will leave."

I was shocked for a moment when Naruto raised his hand until I remembered what happened. I smiled as he declared in front of the room, "Screw you! I won't run a way! Even if I remain a genin forever I'll still become Hokage!"

"I'll ask one more time." Ibiki said, "This will affect your life. If you want to give up raise your hand now."

"I wont take back my words. That's my way of the ninja." Naruto responded confidently.

"Alright then." Ibiki said. "Then, For the first exam, everyone here… Passes!"

"Wait, what the meaning of that?" Sakura exclaimed. "We pass already? What about the tenth question?"

Ibiki laughed and grinned as he said, "there was no such thing to begin with. Or you could say that choice was the tenth question."

I leaned back in my chair and smiled as Ibiki explained the purpose of the other questions in the test. I purposely didn't look when Ibiki showed off his torture marks. I knew things like that happened in this world, but I wanted to remain naive. I still chose to turn a blind eye to the horrifying truth.

I jumped when a window broke and gaped as Anko stood in front of the room with a flag splayed out behind her. "Alright, brats, this is no time to be celebrating. I am the second examiner, Mitarashi Anko. Lets go to the next exam! Follow me!." I held back a laugh as she complained to Ibiki. Then adopted a more serious face as she spoke to us. "Alright, I'll explain the details tomorrow. We'll be meeting in a different place so ask your jounin teachers about it. Dismissed!"

After we left the building Sasuke spoke to Sakura and me. "You two know Anko. How bad do you think her test will be?"

Sakura shuddered, "we might actually die."

Sasuke looked to me to confirm. I nodded, "Whatever we're going to do tomorrow make sure you pack for a fight."

"Yes!" Naruto exclaimed. Then he started giggling to himself, and I was sure he was imagining defeating Sasuke in a fight.

* * *

><p><strong>Omake: Clothes<strong>

"Chichi? What do you think?" I asked as I spun around in the outfit I picked out with Anko. I was wearing a light green shirt with sleeves that went a little past my elbow and exposed my stomach. Then, I wore a matching green half skirt with black spandex shorts underneath.

Dad gawked at my outfit and said, "no."

I frowned and looked down at myself, "why not?"

"There is absolutely no way you're wearing a shirt that exposes your stomach. And that skirt is too short."

"Why not?" I asked again. "Theres nothing wrong with my stomach. And I'm wearing shorts so nobody can see anything."

"No." he repeated.

I huffed, "Ino wears a shirt kind of like this. Besides Anko helped me pick it out."

He narrowed his eyes. "That's not helping your case."

I crossed my arms. "I'm wearing it." I declared.

He sighed heavily. "At least wear a fishnet shirt underneath."

I grinned and gave him a peck on the cheek. "Thanks, chichi."

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Kind of a short chapter I know. That's why I added the omake. Next chapter will be the forest of death, look forward to it and please review :)<strong>


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